The European Commission announced today that it will impose anti-dumping tariffs of up to 36.4% on biodiesel imports from China. This is a step in the right direction for limiting imports of dubious used cooking oil (UCO) biofuels, says T&E. But tariffs alone will not be enough to prevent fraudulently mislabeled palm oil from entering the European market, says the group.
Over the past two years, the European biofuels market has been flooded with UCO imports from China, causing a collapse in the market price from around €2,250 per tonne to €1,100. A recent study by T&E showed that collection in China is as much as 30% cheaper than in Europe. Inherent problems with verification and certification mean that much of the UCO entering Europe may also be fraudulently labelled palm oil, a cheap feedstock heavily linked with deforestation.
The EU currently imports more than 80% of its UCO, with China alone accounting for 60% of these imports.
Cian Delaney, biofuels campaigner at T&E, said: “Europe is completely overreliant on unverifiable used cooking oil from distant countries, like China. Restrictions on imports from China are a step in the right direction, however, anti-dumping tariffs alone won’t be enough to tackle UCO fraud. Without a complete overhaul of the certification process, the EU will continue to play out a game of whack-a-mole as fraudsters from other countries will simply fill the gap.The EU needs to stop incentivising unverifiable, imported waste oils and move away from an industry-led verification system towards more stringent regulation.”
